The n foundation. By judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americglected needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from im philippa thomas. Welcome to outside source. Donald trump analys an historic peace deal between abrael and the united emirates. Philippa workers in belarus as demonstrations continue against the president over his disputed election victory. More than 6000eople have been detained. There are reports of torture and brutality. We will speato the special repertoire for human rights for belarus. The turkish president suggests tensions with greece in the Eastern Mediterranean might have spilled over into an altercation. Welcome. President donald trump has unveed an historic peace dea between israel and the United Arab Emirates. A deal which the uok. Helped to. Here he is announcing it. Pres. Trump aft 49 years, israel and the United Arab Emirates will fully normalize their diplomatic relations. Th will exchange embassies and ambassadors and begin on a broad range of areas,rd educationtourism, health care, trade, and security. Philippa only two arab nations, egypt and jordan, have previously signed he seals with israel. Its here from israels prime this is the greatest advancement towards peace beeensrael in the last 26 years. It markshe third formal peace between israel and arab nations. Philippa lets give you a flavor of reaction from around the world, starting with a Senior Palestinian official. Sh said the uae has come out intohe open on its secret dealings with israel. Please dont do u a favor, we are nobodys fig leaf. but s ambassador to the United States calleit a win for diplomacy and the region that lers tensioat and cre new energy for positive change. The iranian tas name news ency which is affiliated to the revolutionary guards, unsurprisingly condemn mthe diplomate saying, uae israel agreement is shameful. Handes the response from they netted nations. U. N. Hief good terrace welcomes any initiative that can promote peace and security in the middle east region. White house Officials Say as part of the agreement, israel has agreed to suspend applying sovereignty to parts of the occupied west bank that it had considered annexing. Diana boo to is a lawyer and former Legal Advisor to the palestine liberati organization we asked her about this. I think it is important to keep in mind tha there have been two processes about annexation. Ne the formaln informal ocs. The informal process has gone on for 53 years and that has included the confiscation of palestinian land, the theft of palestinian land, the building of israeli only infrastructure on that land, creation of an thapd a system and denial of freedom to palestinians. The formal annexation was the paen that was pposed to ha in july. That is the only part that is going to be stopped. Ilippa Bbc World Service middle east editorebastien is following this. Is it unexpected . Unexpected, no. Surprised the wayt i appeared, yes. Not a not unexpected in the see that as you are hea their about the situation in the palestinian tritories, contrasted between formal and informal, essentialist status quo either way. Theres a status quo established between the uae and israel. Be honest, between israel and otherhe states inast few years. It has been covert much of the time but recently it has come to the open as the coronavirus has been one of those examples where both countries have talked about working together to deal with coronavirus. The uae sent a plane that sent a direct plane to israel to help with the palestinians. It iiss a surin that itas suddenly sprung apparently out of nowhere. Though we have been hearing from the white house, from the americans, from Jared Kushner who is th man put in charge of middle east matters, that these negotiions towards those have been going on for a year and a half. I think from the uaes perspective, they saw an opportunity to make this something where they can come out of it well in terms perhaps of domestic opinion and even arab opinion. When the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, in the last election promised that he would launch the process towards annexation of up to 30 of the occupied west bank. That becamely obvious a rallying cry. It has not been for someim fomuch of the arab world. So the uae, it sounded a different note from the u. S. And israel. They have talked about historic breakthrougha peace deal, they have talked about it in the ranks of the egyptian peace deals. The uae essentially has been saying that this is a step forward, it is good for peace. It is good for bringing countries together. Sobut the te key element is from the uaes perspective, it stopped the threat of annexation. They are saying not , but completely. That is not the message coming from israel. Benjamin netanyahu, in a speech he made when he was asking questions afterwards, said that that annexation has been delayed, but not canceled. Il pa thank you. European Foreign Ministers will discuss possible sanctions onla s on friday. After protests over sundays asputed election entered fifth ninth. This was the scene on the streets earlier today. You can see the protesters marcng,. Holding flers. Some people driving past, beeping their horns mb support. Re, this man, Alexander Lubin janco,us has ruled bel since 1994. The vote on sunday. 0 80 of there have be allegations of ter rigging. This was the main opposition candidate. She ran for president after her husband was arrested. She was then detained while lodging a complaint about the result and she fled to neighboring lithuania. Dissatisfaction has spread across the country. The belarusian journalist has tweeted, something has cracked. Unprecedented police brutalit and violence with was the last straw for many people. Thousands are on the streets now, but also othe cities and towns. Many major plants announced strikes, prominent figures demand tstop the violence. As she was saying, protests have taken place in the capital and beyond. Tslice have used live bal against protesters in the southwestern city. In another city, a man died after being arrested and kept in a police van. The second death we know of in this unrest. Workers at some state companies have downed tools as part of a generastrike. Some pictures o workers at the huge state run factory. It makes equipment and what they arare chanting is they calling for the president to stand down. Since sunday, morehan 6000 people have been detained by police and security forces. The footage we are about to play from belarusian state tv is disturbing. It shows detained protesters being asked, willhey start the revolution again they respond, no. Some of them are injured. The state tpochannel has ed many of those arrested were carrying weapons and but these reports have not been verified. Here is the scene outside of a prison north of minsk, of relatives waiting outside Detention Centers hoping that their loved ones are amongst ose who are being released. You can see some people are showing photos of those they are looking forward to see if they are being held in the same cells. Here is what to some of the relatives of the detained had to say on wednesday. I only managed to tell my husband that police are coming our way. They came to us and they said to my husband, come with us. He only asked why. And they were already taking him. Twisting his arms, taking him to the police van. [speaking foreign lanage] translator we just want to know where our children are. Thats all we need. They are not giving them food. This morning, some boys said they would beat them re less if theyuiet. They are up to 40 people in a ll. Every half an hour, they bring them one liter of water. A leader and a half for all of them. Philip marguerite malley covid joins me now. Margarita, what are you seeing on social media . Restrictions as well on internet access. Michael rita yes, there certainly are. From the ninth of august until yesterday, when it seemed to resume work. However, there are still problems periodically. Whate see, we see some interesting scenes. For example, policemen are posting their resignation letters. Some ofm are posting videos of it discarding their uniforms. There was e viral video where a polican through his uniform into a rubbish bin. Another one threw it out the window. Someone burned it. Aside from that, prominent figures, singers, athletes, tv presenters in fact, state tv presenters are resigning. And on social media, they go into the reasons for doing so. And oftentimes, they cite violence against protesters as the emotive. Philippa so many different sections of society are caught up in this. On the streets, we have been showing our body and some of those pictures of women leading the rallying. A margarit yes. We have seen that in different cities around the country. Today and also yesteglay, interesty, women have been leading this effort. They are often dressed in white and carrying flowers and you see other people joining them. Doctors, for example, and also drivers driving by and honking. In support. Bringing flowers to them. It has been a nationwide protest. Philippa margarita, thank you. We will keep watching thipair the reports of Police Brutality on the streets and i prisons has been mounting, as we heard from mgarita. Journalists and passersby caught up in the arrests. Here is h one man released from detention described what haened to him. Speaking foreign language] bbc1 i was arrested two days ago. I d nothing illegal. They told me to line the floor. Lie on the floor. I did. They started to beat me. I did not resist. Then i was beaten in the van as well. United nations spe by the repertoire on the situation of human rights in belarus. Welcome to bbc news. How would you characterize what you are seeing. We are witnessing extreme violence, which isti unjed and unlawful. Im very mucconcerned about reports of torture, ill treatment, during the arrests, in detention. The conditions of detention were described, the intention of the authorities with such a heavyhanded response to the protts is to make people understa that they should go home and stay home and never again go out in the streets. Unless they want to face arbitrary violence as we have been witnessing for the past three or four days. Philippa alexander ljubijankic has been in office 26 years. His authoritarian rulis no surprise. But do you feel that what is happening now is are depar dinitely, society has changed. The desire for change may be some kind of a revolutionary route. It has been there in the country for a couple months already. The mismanagement of the covid crisis by the authorities. And they already felt at the time of the signature collectiog for fiel candidates that it was not an equal fieldnor people to because several candidates have been prevented from running to our jail now, includinglo theer and husband, who as you sd has fled t country for fear of more repression and oher esence in the country as potentially a leader for the protests l td to a possible bloodbath. Philippa you are calling for thviolence to stop. And then what should happen . First time ever, i believe. He the opponents to his a rulen the majority and they know it. They want to be heard and they wa to be heard by their leader who does not seem to be willing to listen to them. S thate problem. He will not be willing to go for a dialogue. However, the society is resilient. And it is eager to oust him, it seems. The fact that there were no International Observers from the usc, the fact that many foreign journalists were not given accreditation to cover the events means that everything is happening alst bs. Ind closed do also because of the internet closure. Basically, it is a society fighting against its authoritarian president. Philip if i can just ask you briefly, we have heard from our bbc monitoring journalist. Reports of Police Taking off their uniforms, discarding them, burning them. Does that give you hope the forces o law and order are deciding that this is not acceptable . Definitely. Oit is possibly ty hope, that those who are tasked with fulfillingnlawful orders, abusive violence, will just refuse to execute these orders. However, the belarusian regime is extremely autocratic. And the army and the law enforcementre buddies and kgb extremely powerful. It would beer a difficult struggle for anyone trying to go against this rule. Philippa u. N. Special repertoire, thank you for speaking to us. Sidetay with us on o source. Still to come, we will o detentions in the Eastern Mediterranean as france and greece conduct joint military drills there. Philippa here in the u. K. , an investigatiois underway into at caused yesterdays Train Derailment which killed three people. A Scottish Government minister said extreme weather did have an impact. Our scotland core pond and. Correspondent has this update repoer the head of network rail visiting the site said iegent checks are being ca out. We have the best safeop record in e but we were not good enough yesterday. Whatever happened yesterday, we whatht was. O find out eventually its important the rail accident innstigation project are gi time to do that properly and forensically. Reporter three people died in the derailment. Awi passenger, alon the trains conductor. A family man, he was said to light up theoom with his cheery banter and stories. The trains driver, brett mcculloch, was described by his family is the most decent and loving human being wove ever his passing leaves a huge id in all our lives. Philippa this is outside source live from the bbc news room. Donald trump announces an historic peace deal between israel and the United Arab Emirates. Hundreds of thousands of students in england, wales and Northern Ireland have received a level grades for exams they did not sit because of lockdown. Mas were awarded using teacher estimates but those men were tandardized by exam s bods, and head teachersay the results show a great deal of volatility. In england, more than one third a level results were one grade lower than teachers had submitted, a3 of results were put down by two grades. Overall, the number of a to c, a level grades rose compared t last year. Dan johnson has been meeting studen w got the results. Im not happy with my results because they are being downgraded at least one grade from the assessments. Reporter olivia had moral support from her mom this morning. But she did not get what she wanted. I just feel disappointed, to be honest. Im glad we have gotten a system. Lot of people are upset and disappointed and what weve been given. Reporter it isgoliticians belamed. They have had months to get this right. Uli think they shave had more trust in the teachers and the schools for their honesty, for their integrity. That is the frustrating part for me, i think. Reporter layla has been downgraded but should still get a place at university because of the y flexibility in thrs admissions. After all of her school years, these grades are about mor than after uni, if you get a job, you might be able to get with someone who is a Previous Year on or o sought sat the exam. Philippa the grades in england were standarzed using a formula made by the office of qualifications and examinations regulation. That algorithm has come under criticism. Private schools have seen the greatest increase in top grades thisf year, an increase . Whereas steak on brands of schools are up around 2 . The bbcs pocy editor explains one of the main reasons private schools are doinua better than they have small classes with niche and unusual subjects, and that is impossible to sostandardize. Hey are more likely to be awarded their teachers asssments. Others take a dimmer view. Jessica, the guardian step 88 political editor, says todays english a level students are getting results deci a computer based on whether they are rich or poor, and if they are lucky, they will get into up unto 55,000 within debt to watch online lectures in their bedroom. She says it is a betrayal of this generation. The u. K. Prime minister Boris Johnson says there is a systemap for students talgainst their grades. Where they feel that they could have doneth better, w they feel there is an injustice being done, there is the possibility of appeal and they can reset, they can take a reset this autumn as well. Philippa labors shadow education secretary has said the appeals process needs to be urgently clarified. Is a devastatingly worrying time for them. We are talking about their fure careers, the next steps and further study. And there is still a great deal of uncertainty about what is the best thing for them to do. Whether to appeal, whether to go into university clearing, whether toes in the autumn. I think it is important that the government gives absolute clarity about how these different processes will work. Philippa next, we will talk about the ean mediterranean. There have been tensions for some time. Spurred by competing claims over gas reserves and maritime aims between turkey, and greece and cyprus. There have been several developments in the region today. First, these pictures of france and greece conducting joint military drills and obvious show of strength. On wedsday, the french president tweeted he was going to strengthen the French Military presence temporarilin these waters, adding in french and, gree Eastern Mediterranean situation is worrying. Turkeys unilateral decisions concerning oil exploraon are provoking tensions. The tensions must end to enable which are neighbor alliesntries in nato. This all came after a turkish ship left port to carryut a drilling survey just off the greek island of castillo reason earlier this week. This isn area where greece and turkey have overlapping territoriallaims, aou can probably seerom our map. This is the ship in question. It is setting off for greece on alert,ea not because it was accompanied by five Turkish Naval vessels. As this forbes article points out, turkey is against rmidable navies in the Eastern Mediterranean. It mentions the french, egyptian, anisraeli navies. L of these against turkeys moves in the region. It is potentially getting quite choroid with quite crowd out there. Presiden erdogan seemed to suggest the war of words might already have turned into something more serious. [speaking foreign language] translator we told them, nt you attack us. We said if you attack will pay a high price. And they got their first answer today. Ilippa he did not ge any more details, but that doe tseem to suggere might have been an altercation. Lets talk tobcurkish. Do we know what has happened . No. At least not from the turkish sources. A few minutes ago, there was a report that a Greek DefenseMinistry Official denied anything taking place or any vessels in the region. When we look at the turkish progovernment newspapers, right after erdogan spoke, they started issuing and publishing utw stories a an incident that happened earlier today. They suggest a greek free Great Research ship. Act turkish turkish worship accompanying the Research Ship tried to interinne he situation. And the turkish ship and the greek fleet gate, they touched sligly each other. Again, newspapers suggest the fleet hgate some damage while the turkish ships remain intact. The turkish Defense Ministry issued a statement saying turkey will continue escorting the Research Ship with the same war ships. Some pundits suggests this wording implies turkish warships remain in incent. Philippa it sounds like pretty riskye times in stern met. Thats corre. The issue of the maritime rights cand thetinental shelf has been one of the issues between rkey and greece to nato allies. This issue remains unresolved in the last many, many decades. There have been some talks to resolve the issues which has not provided any solutions yet. Back in the early 1996, there was a similar estimation in the Eastern Mediterranean, when two countries claim sovereignty of two all islands. Which are aew miles from the turkish coast. In the two countries came on the brink of war. He the u. S. Presiden bill clinton, stepped in to resolve the issue. Which his intervention deescalat the situation. For many people, thi is what we significant tion in the mosca region since 1996. Philippa thank you so much for giving us some context there. A bit of a Bigger Picture about what is happening. Just a reminder, our top story, israel in the uae have agreed a full normalization of relations. You can talk to me on twitter p hilippabbc. Thank you for joining us for outside source. Narrator funding for this presentation of this pvigram is pd by. Nguage specialists teaching spanish, french and more. Raymond james. The freeman foundation. By jy anfopeter blum kovledation; pursuing solutions for am and by contributions to ts pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. [bright music] pbs american portrait is. A platform where anyone can come and share their stories. 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